Shohei Ohtani gave baseball followers in Arizona a thrill on Monday afternoon.
The Dodgers’ new celebrity hit his first residence run for his new crew throughout a reside batting follow on the crew’s Glendale spring coaching facility.
It was the primary time that Ohtani had confronted a reside pitcher for the Dodgers since present process reconstructive elbow surgical procedure.
Ohtani was going through Dodgers reliever J.P. Feyereisen when he despatched a fastball over the appropriate subject fence, in response to ESPN.
“When he hit it, I’m like, oh, he’s Shohei, so he’s acquired energy,” Feyereisen instructed reporters. “Then I rotated, I’m like, nicely, there’s one other one. So it was good. It was enjoyable to see. And clearly he seems to be like he’s able to go.
“I get that he’s acquired this huge following. He’s 700 million [dollars]. However he’s our teammate as nicely. … When he steps within the field, you simply acquired to go and assault him, and clearly he attacked me.”
Ohtani, who is without doubt one of the sport’s greatest names and is coming off a season through which he gained AL MVP earlier than departing the Angels for the Dodgers this winter, additionally confronted Ryan Brasier and Blake Treinen.
He signed a historic $700 million, 10-year contract with the Dodgers, who had an enormous offseason as nicely additionally including Japanese ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Ohtani underwent surgical procedure in September and he is not going to pitch this season, however is predicted to have the ability to hit.
Ohtani is not going to play within the Dodgers’ spring coaching opener on Thursday after they face the Padres.
![Shohei Ohtani hit a home run during his first live batting practice with the Dodgers on Monday.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/02/los-angeles-dodgers-designated-hitter-76808545.jpg?w=1024)
“He’s quite a bit additional alongside than I believe any of us — perhaps not named Shohei — would have anticipated,” Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts stated on Saturday. “He’s labored actually arduous, very diligent in his work, so he’s forward of schedule.”
Los Angeles is anticipating that he will probably be able to hit by the season opener in Seoul in opposition to the Padres.